Monday, September 18, 2017

The Narmada, also
called the Rewa, is the fifth longest river in the Indian subcontinent. It is
the third longest river that flows entirely within India, after the Godavari,
and the Krishna. It is also known as "Life Line of Madhya Pradesh"
for its huge contribution to the state of Madhya Pradesh in many ways. It is
one of only three major rivers in peninsular India that run from east to west
(longest west flowing river), along with the Tapti River and the Mahi River. Narmada' is a Sanskrit word meaning "the Giver of Pleasure".

On
occasion of his 67th birthday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the
Narmada river. The ‘engineering
miracle’ is expected to provide power, drinking water, and irrigation to 9,000
villages in three states - Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The project which
has been the subject of much controversy for decades now is one of the largest
dams in the world. Before making any comments ~ do you know of the dams in
Tamil Nadu and do you remember that in Chennai, river Adyaru overflowed on
Saidapet bridge and in 2 years, the city is facing water crisis … and do you
now who inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam project and when ??

Having a length of
1.2 kms and a depth of 163 metres, the dam is expected to be shared among the
three states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.It was April 5,
1961, when the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone
for the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Narmada district's Kevadia. Fast forward 56
years, the dam was finally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
September 17, 2016, which was also his birthday. The dam would help irrigate 8,00,000
hectares of land in the state and will provide drinking water to 131 urban
centres and 9,633 villages (53 per cent of a total of 18,144 villages of
Gujarat). Besides, the canal network will also irrigate parts of Rajasthan,
Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

The Sardar Sarovar
project was a vision of the first deputy prime minister of India, Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel. The foundation stone of the project was laid out by Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru after carrying out a study on the usage of the Narmada river
water that flowed through the states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and into the
Arabian Sea. A project report prepared for the dam led to much dispute over the
means of distributing the Narmada water among the three states- Gujarat,
Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. As the negotiations bore no fruit, a Narmada
Water Dispute Tribunal (NWDT) was created in 1969 to decide the fate of the
project.

Since that day in
1961, the humongous project has seen
numerous movements. The project took
form in 1979 as part of a development scheme to increase irrigation and produce
hydroelectricity. Of the 30 dams
planned on river Narmada, Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) is the largest structure to
be built. It is a part of the Narmada Valley Project, a large hydraulic
engineering project involving the construction of a series of large irrigation
and hydroelectric multi-purpose dams on the Narmada river. Following a number
of controversial cases before the Supreme Court of India (1999, 2000, 2003), by
2014 the Narmada Control Authority had approved a series of changes in the
final height – and the associated displacement caused by the increased
reservoir, from the original 80 m (260 ft) to a final 163 m (535 ft) from
foundation.

The dam's main
power plant houses six 200 MW Francis pump-turbines to generate electricity and
include a pumped-storage capability. Additionally, a power plant on the intake
for the main canal contains five 50 MW Kaplan turbine-generators. The total
installed capacity of the power facilities is 1,450 MW.

In Tamil Nadu,
there are many minor and major dams – some of which are : Aathupalayam,
Adavinainar, Aliyar, Bhavanisagar, Kalingarayan, Kallanai, Krishnagiri, Lower Anaicut, Manjalar,
Mukkudal, Nallathangal, Orathuppalayam,
Papanasam, Pechiparai, Sathanur,
Sothuparai, Vaigai, Varattupallam. More than
all these is the Mettur Dam, built in
1934, also known as Stanley reservoir. It was
constructed at where the Kaveri River
enters the plains. Maximum height and
width of the Dam are 214 and 171 feet respectively. Maximum storage height is
120 feet. Mettur Dam receives the water from both Kabini Dam and Krishna Raja
Sagara Dam located in Karnataka. There are 2 hydroelectric power stations in
Mettur Dam, the first constructed during British rule and the second during the
Indian Republic.